New Horse Alert: Meet One of the Lafayettes

At long last, after relentlessly stalking Breyer’s website in anticipation of Lafayette’s release and purchasing two of him, they arrived one week ago. Not bothering to read the info on Lafayette’s page when he was released, I went for two in the event a collector I knew who really wanted one would get one at cost if he sold out. Happily, Breyer accommodated everyone in the Collector’s Club with the backorder option. Lafayettes for all! Hurray! Certainly not the inky black beauty of Breyer’s promotional pictures, the silver basecoat glows from beneath the black topcoat and the silver shines...like silver where there is no black topcoat. I absolutely love how these guys look, minus the weird crappling. Well okay, even with the weird crappling I love this color. What I would love to see is this color on Georg, but dapple free. I unwrapped one Laffy but have kept the bubble wrapping on Laffy #2’s head and tail. Both of my Laffys (Laffies?) look to be about the same color wise, but Laffy #2’s right side has more prominent crapples. Neither one has the heavy gloss you expect on a glossy, but rather a thin gloss coat. Overall, I’m very happy with the Lafayettes, and hope that someday we will get a solid, thickly glossed coal black on this mold. Something like the Coal Christmas Zebra:

I tried to take some outdoor photos of Laffy #1 (Laffy #2 has been shoved back in his box). However, the wind was super wild and kept blowing him down. He tumbled over twice and landed in the grass. I should have just stuck him in the flower bed. The mud would have held him still, haha. Here he is outdoors in full sun standing on an upside down Home Depot bucket (‘cause we’re all about professionalism here):

Here are some more outdoor pictures on the shaded porch, taken on the oh-so-classy grill. And if you look carefully, on the left side in the first picture you can see a tiny Lafayette reflecting in the glass:

Notice in the photos below how much of the silver basecoat is showing on his chest and neck when compared with his head, especially in the third photo. I had to anchor him with one hand as the wind just would not let up. I was lucky to get his left and right sides (see above) before the wind went wild again.

I also took a few indoor photos:

The silver seen here is the basecoat, not straight up glare:

This is a color I would love to see Breyer use again, but without the dapples. I prefer the models to be dapple free, as more often than not the dapples end up looking weird. 

*Coal Christmas Zebra photos from Breyer’s website.*

Test Run Jeans and Lafayette Woes

Okay, test run jeans sounds much more amusing than Denim. At least to me, anyway. The first Test Model of 2021 is a beautiful glossy light denim blue Lady Phase. She has a pattern of warp and weft threads to mimic the weave of fabric. This Lady Phase was the test run for Twill, a 2013 Breyerfest Special Run. Twill differs from Denim in that she is a pinto, has white facial and leg markings, and isn’t glossy. The thread pattern on Twill was retained from the test run model. Denim will be sold via lottery draw, and is priced at $1,100. This is the highest of any test run offered so far. Breyer had initially priced the test runs at $800, and the prices began to increase. I wish Breyer had kept the test pieces in the $800 range to keep them affordable for more collectors. The higher prices have cut many out of the chance to purchase a Breyer test run.

Here is Twill, the 2013 Breyerfest Special Run for comparison:

Personally, I prefer the test model over Twill. Maybe Breyer was going for a ripped jeans look when they decided to add the white pinto markings to Twill? Presenting the latest fashion trend-Pinto Pants! Wear them to any Breyer Event!

If you have entered the lottery for Denim, good luck to you!

Moving on to the much anticipated CC Lafayette model...when Lafayette was finally available to members of the Collector’s Club, he was available in two batches. One was the in stock group, and the other was the backorder group for those who missed the in stock Lafayettes. Breyer allowed the option to backorder a Lafayette model which would be delivered in September 2021, and gave a generous time allotment for the ordering period (February 26-March 18), which I thought was fantastic. However, it seems that Breyer’s Wild Warehouse People began filling the orders randomly. Some people who had ordered Lafayette when he was in stock have been pushed to the September backorder group, and some people who had backordered Lafayette have received shipping notices with delivery dates for the model. The Wild Warehouse People have in recent weeks been mailing horses in bubble mailers, and shipping items from multi-item orders individually. 

Onward with more about Lafayette. The Breyer promotional pictures show Lafayette to be inky black with subtle silver dapples. Those who have received their Lafayettes have noted that he is not the inky black color-he is actually a dark gray, with varying degrees of the silver undercoat peering through. There seem to be variations in the darkness of the black topcoat, with some looking to be more of a smoky silver. I would have preferred the jet black myself, but I’m still loving the color on this guy. I should have mine next week, barring any disasters than may wreak havoc on the shipping route. 

*Test Run Denim photos from the Breyer website*

*BF SR Twill photos from Identify Your Breyer website*

*Pinto pants/ripped jeans from Pinterest*

Friday was Full of Hobby Happenings

Who would have guessed yesterday would have been a busy hobby day...Lafayette dropped, Breyer Boot Camp started, the Breyer Collector Club Newsletter came out, and The Birds! are back.

Right, starting out with the long awaited appearance of the CC Exclusive model Lafayette. Hurray! Hurrah! Whoooooooo! I thought for sure he’d be released next week. I found him by a chance checking of the CC home page. I was on a conference call which was wrapping up, and took a gulp of water while happening to check the CC page because I was trying to pass the last few forever minutes of the meeting. I gasped when I saw Lafayette and apparently forgot how to drink water. I was coughing and sputtering as I started ordering. I vaguely heard someone ask if I had anything to add, but I just kept coughing and choking. Yes, please add  *cough*choke*sputter*cough-cough* on my behalf, thank you. I then hung up. Next I flew over to Blab (still choking) to make a new thread to alert people that he was available so people could go and order him. Mind you, I didn’t bother to read the accompanying information on his page as in the past, once these models sell out, that’s it. You have missed out. 

Turns out, there was no need for a mad dash to order him-Breyer gave the option for folks to back order him once the first batch of Lafayettes had sold out. 

Well done, Breyer! I am *so* happy they did this! Now every member of the CC can get one if they so choose. In the past, people were often disappointed because these CC exclusive models would be sold out before they even knew about the releases.  I certainly hope Breyer continues to do this!

Yesterday was also the start of Breyer Boot Camp, and unfortunately I didn’t see any of it. There were two Meet the Artist sessions, and the conclusion of the Open Photo Show Judging. I know today’s workshops are to be recorded, but I don’t know if the artist sessions are being recorded. I hope that they are.

The latest Breyer CC newsletter popped up yesterday as well. I skimmed the feature on the evolution of Brenda Breyer. I need to go back and read through it properly, but it was nice to see Brenda Breyer get some recognition.  Oh, and one more thing. Ruuuuuuuuuuuuun!!! The Birds!!!  Breyer treated us to a new sneak peek square of the upcoming model in their Birds of a Feather series:

I cannot venture a guess at the moment which model it may be, but we can see that the mane seems to be flying off of the horse’s neck, indicating a movement model. So that leaves us waiting, just like this:

Scene from Alfred Hitchcock’s movie The Birds, 1963.

*Lafayette photo from Breyer’s website, written on by me*

*Info on back ordering Lafayette from Breyer’s website*

*Sneak Peek square taken from Breyer’s CC newsletter*

*Movie still taken from The Birds, 1963*

A Horse With No Name, Actually a Horse With the Wrong Name

Sometimes when we (okay me) become too accustomed to calling someone/something by the incorrect name, it is easy to forget the proper name.  This happened to me recently while reading the Model Horse Madness blog.  I was reading about this mysterious, yet to be released model named Lafayette and how the blog owner was stalking Breyer’s website so she wouldn’t miss out on him...and I’m thinking, “Who is Lafayette?  How did I miss this information?”  So I asked who Lafayette was, and got my answer.  Turns out, I knew who Lafayette was-but by a different name.  I had been calling him GBH, which stands for Glossy Black Hamilton.  *smacks self in head*  He is the Collector Club Special model open for purchase to all CC members (sold on a first come first serve basis).  I too have been stalking Breyer’s website as I don’t want to miss out on him-he will be a quick sellout for sure.  I really think Breyer should have taken preorders on Lafayette, as they have done for some past CC models.  He has not yet been released, but it should be soon.  I will continue my stalking...in the meantime, here is Lafayette, aka GBH:

*Picture taken from Breyer’s website*